I Am Always Amazed!

Today, Disney was having a marathon of all the classics from when Garrett was little. He was determined Guthri sit with him and watch them. When he was little, he and I used to watch them over and over and over. We only had two TV channels then so a movie was an every morning thing for us when Barney was over. That usually gave me time to get some laundry done or cleaning. He loved every one of them! His favorite was Lion King but it wasn't on today.

We spent most of the day watching Mulan, Aladdin, Tarzan and Hercules. Garrett still remembered almost every word and every song. He would sit there quoting the lines with the characters. He would tell Guthri what all was happening and even gave a short history lesson her and there. I just sat there listening to him in awe. How can he remember all that after at least 10 years?

Guthri loved them all but got a little bored. Garrett and I sat there watching intently and laughing. If he would have been over 2 feet shorter I would have thought he was four again! He is dying that I am posting this but it was great day or me!

She Better Marry Rich!

Today, school let out early so we headed home to make vegetable soup for Guthri. She loves the stuff and always wants to "help". I normally get away with her only helping a little or get it done before she notices what I am doing. No such luck today!

She peeled carrots and potatoes (only 2) while sitting on the cabinet. She even had her "Rachel Ray trash bowl". As she was peeling she was humming away and asked me to boil water for hot chocolate "I really like something warm on a cold day" is how she justified her request. We struggled through all the ingredients and she poured everything into the pan. I told her she had to clean up because that was part of cooking. She smiled and said "I would love to." She got out the broom and sang "This is how we sweep the floor, sweep the floor, sweep the floor. This is the way we sweep the floor so early in the morning." She sang over and over and just had the best time. She then laid on the couch and sipped her hot chocolate. Just as at ease as anyone could be.

I see her loving being a "Suzy Homemaker" and drinking her coffee on the couch after the kids have been delivered to school. Then off to the gym for her personal trainer and an afternoon at the salon. She is just sooo prissy!! Guthri is somewhat of a country girl but nothing like me. She loves animals and being in the middle of the action but when it come to housework, clothes, etc... she acts like a pure girl. All I hope is she can marry a man that will make enough for her to stay home!

Spring Blizzard?

Tonight, Amarillo is expecting a blizzard! By morning Childress is to have blizzard conditions! Can you believe it? I can't. All winter I have waited for it to be cold enough to wear a sweater but no it never came. (I have to have COLD weather for a sweater.) Now, I pulled out the capris and the sandals and we are supposed to have 25-35 mph sustained winds with rain and then snow fall by 10 am? We are to expect occasional 50 mph wind gusts? Guess no capris tomorrow.

I am headed for the grocery store to stock up!

I Could File my Life!!!

I am constantly telling some "sorry, I forgot". I forget deadlines at school, prescriptions at the pharmacy, dry cleaning, meetings, etc... You know, I am so organized with my computer. I have everything in folders and can find everything I need in an instant. Today someone even called me anal!!! Why can't I do that with my life?

The house is a wreck, the laundry is thrown in dirty piles or thrown into the clean basket. Very rarely is it all put away. Dishes remain in the sink to be washed, cushions are off the couch, the dresser is piled and I just sit here and look at it! It is almost overwhelming. If I could put it all into a computer I am sure I could keep my life all neatly filed away to find at a moments notice!! Hmmm...what an idea!

Some times you just have to love them!

Lonnie was miserable all day Sunday with Gout. We didn't even go to church because I was trying to help him, went to the grocery store to buy "home remedies" .....

Last night he finally fell asleep about 11:00. But...he was sleeping so hard that he snored like never before! He just went on and on and on. Finally, it came out of my mouth "good gosh, turn over!" It just came out. He woke up, laughed and turned over. Three seconds later, it was even louder! I was trying so desperately to not wake him up because I knew he was tired and was in pain. I laid there until midnight and finally just had to leave the room.

As I laid on the couch resentful for being "snored" out of my bed I thought "some times I just have to love him."

Living with Gout

Lonnie has suffered with Gout almost our entire married life. He gets these episodes that literally shut down our lives. He is miserable. It usually hits when he is stressed and has tons of things going on. We have learned that stress triggers Gout! It takes us all to help him get the things done that he needs to do but he is so miserable by the end of the day, he just melts onto the bed and lays there in pain.

He has spent thousands of dollars on medicine and has seen over 10 doctors to help him with this awful mess. Dr. Green has been the only doctor that has taken him seriously. Most look at his German name and tell him to lay off the beef and beans and quit drinking beer. Well, if they would listen they would know that Lonnie does not drink! Dr. Green put him on a maintenance med. but it still doesn't stop the Gout completely. It has lessened the occurrences.

He has had a Gout episode for the last 8 days and today it hit him hard. I know it is bad when he asks for the crutches. Tonight, we bought a Gout Handbook on-line. It has some practical, natural remedies so we are going to try those. I hope those ideas help. I tried to get him to try the first recommendation tonight but he was too miserable to even tell me if he would or not. He is sleeping hard right now so maybe he will be better in the morning.

New Recipe

A few weeks back Lea Morgan told me about something she had tried at dinner and it sounded soooo good. When I went to the grocery store this last time I thought about her idea and decided to buy the things to make it. Of course the grocery store didn't have the Chicken Helper she told me about so I improvised. Recipe follows:

2 Tbls margarine
1 box Chicken Rice Medley (I bought United brand)
3 chicken breast halves, cubed
2 cups water
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 tsp chicken bouillon

Melt margarine in skillet. Add chicken and rice medley. Saute until pasta is light brown and chicken in thoroughly cooked. Add water, beans, corn, and bouillon. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is done, stir occasionally.

We put ours in tortillas and added sour cream to eat it like a burrito. It was delicious! Lonnie added pepper jack cheese to his and said it was awesome.

Just thought I would share!

It's been a good week

We made it home from Houston about 8:30 tonight. It was not a bad trip. We had spent the night in Huntsville last night and slept in. We left around 11:00 this morning but quickly stopped and ate lunch and then headed out again. Made it to Fort Worth before we stopped again. Got gas and lots of snacks and went on. Didn't make it to Wichita Falls when Guthri screams "I have to go to the restroom!" Stopped and spent more time taking a break. Then stopped in Vernon to eat dinner and did a little shopping at Beall's and Tractor Supply. Finally made it to Childress and noticed as we past the court house that we had left Lonnie's pickup parked there. One more stop! Pulled up to the house and the dog, Rojo, went wild. He has been so lonely since Zoey died and us being gone for a week just made him miserable. It was nice to have someone greet us when we got home!

Childress County did well at Houston. Three kids (including Garrett) placed ninth with their pigs and one placed 7th. Not too bad. Lonnie has been working for years to get the show program built up and things are looking better. The year has been pretty good as a whole.

Glad to be home but I will spend at least one day it not two at school getting things cleaned up and prepared for next week. I have lots of props to make for LTC before Sunday so have a busy couple of days ahead.

He's 15 today!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Garrett places 9th

Just got back to the motel and had to post. Garrett got 9th place! The first judge looked and looked at him but sent him on to the "dead sea". (where sends pigs he doesn't like) The second judge really liked him and wrote his number down. When they came together judge #2 told judge #1 about Garrett and they looked at him together. Had Garrett walk him by a couple of times and pulled him to the holding pen! It was soooo exciting! All the hold pigs were let out and judge #2 still liked Garrett's pig. They pulled the top 4 and started placing from 5th to 10th. I just watched those chips being handed out and was holding my breath. Garrett kept taking that pig round and round those judges. At one time the pig went between the judges and Garrett just walked around them and brought the pig in front of them again. He finally got a chip! We had lost count so wasn't sure what place he had gotten. We saw him come around and he was grinning from ear to ear. He said "another 9th place". I know you had to be there to be as excited and anxious as we were but just take my word for it. It was too close for comfort! You can watch the show on www.liveauctions.tv ( I think that is the right web site. I will look it up and if it is wrong I will let you know.)

EXCITING NEWS!

Got an e-mail from the dog breeder that the puppies have been born! When we lost Zoey, I found out that Zoey's mom was going to have puppies in March so it has all worked out fine. There are 5 puppies: 2 girls and 3 boys. Guthri woke up this morning and I showed her pictures. She decided the one with a pink "collar" was a girl. We talked about some names and she just stared at the computer screen. It was so sweet. We should be able to bring home "her baby" around the first of May. We are thrilled!

Houston without a camera!

At 2 a.m. we pulled into the La Quinta on Buffalo Speedway across from the Reliant Center in Houston. Right as we entered the parking lot I realized I left my camera at home!!! You see procrastination got the best of me. I was so busy getting all the essentials packed that I forgot to pack what I wanted most of all. I really wanted to take some good pictures to share and use on scrapblog.com.

I do not like crafting and really can't stand sitting there cutting out paper so when I discovered scrapblog I was so excited. Not that I have created anything spectacular but I do love computers and discovered that I could "scrapbook" using my computer! Wow! But now, I don't have any pictures.

Want to take a vote? Do you think Lonnie will let me buy a new camera?

Procrastination

Do you ever procrastinate? I do all the time!!!!! This week is no different. We are leaving for Houston on Friday as soon as school is out and it is Wednesday night at 9:40 and I have not even started packing! What am I thinking? I just can't stand to pack so I have put it off as long as possible. I really don't have time Thursday night so guess I will be up most of the night getting it all done. Man, I am just lazy!

For the month of March my class is to learn about Respect and actually present a short presentation at our weekly hall meeting. Have I started? You guess! I am not showing much respect for my team mates, am I?

I have got to get a plan at school and at home to get rid of this horrible habit. Wish me luck!

The Greatest Commandment

Tonight at church, we sang the song "The Greatest Commandment". It is a beautiful song!

The first time I heard it, I was going to a church in Brownwood for the first time. Lonnie, Garrett and I had moved there two weeks earlier and lost our unborn son one week earlier. It was a horrible time in my life and I truly felt like God had let me down. At that time in our lives, we had dedicated everything we had to God and we were on top of the world. We had our wonderful son Garrett, for the first time we were pregnant, Lonnie was starting the job he had always wanted and we were living in the same town as my parents. Life could not get any better. But four days after moving there the son we were expecting to bring home from the hospital in one week just suddenly died. I cannot explain the pain.

I got way off base....When I was at church in Brownwood fighting back every tear, the congregation began to sing this song. The song begins like this, "Love one another, for love is of God." I just sat there weeping and could not stop. All I could think "Well, if God is love then why did He let my baby die?" It was a horrible feeling. I heard that song at least a hundred times before we left Brownwood and even began to sing it myself but because I liked the melody not the words.

I allowed myself to lose my faith in God! For years I remained in a pool of depression and blamed God for everything that He allowed to go wrong. I still attended church, I still taught Sunday school, I still sang every Sunday but as a habit not as a worship. I took Garrett to everything at church because I knew it was right but didn't want to let God back into my heart completely. I held up my guard, constantly having those words sung over and over in my head.

One day I discovered that I was pregnant again. I can't explain the feelings but it was happiness with a hint of fear and bitterness. I never allowed myself to become completely attached to the baby. I was fortunate to have a wonderful doctor who did everything right. He made sure that baby arrived healthy and happy. The night Guthri was born was a weird night. She would be 5 weeks early but it was for her safety and mine. I will never forget Lonnie bringing her to me and I looked at her and was disappointed because she was not dark headed and looked nothing like her brother in heaven. Somehow, I was hoping that she would look like Grady and it would make everything right.

The next day as I was looking at her and watching Garrett feed her, I heard those words again. This time not just in my head but in my heart too. Part of me was softening up to God. That whole time I struggled with what I knew was right and what was in my head. My heart was finally taking over. Relief of the bitterness was in sight.

We moved to Childress a few years later and fell in love with our church and church family. To make a long story not so long, my heart softened because of the faith I regained watching my church family. I saw God as love, God as charity, God as service. We are learning to sing "The Greatest Commandment" here in Childress. This time I sang it as WORSHIP! Thanks Nate for bringing this back into my life!

Sometimes Love is Hard!

Have you ever had one of those days that you just think "I would just like to run away!" I have been trying so desperately the last few weeks to be more supportive and complimentary of Lonnie. I am not very good at voicing it to him so after reading a blog from our preacher, I vowed to find something nice to say every day. What was I thinking?

There are going to be bad days, days of endless pressure, days of absent mindedness, just days of not getting along. Today was one of those days. Lonnie has been gone for weeks and has spent very little time "taking care of family matters." We are all stressed and today it all just came to a head. I will spare you all the details but I was selfish, he was selfish and neither of us budged. But what was so funny is that it made me think of what I could say in "3 Reasons I Love my Husband Today". At first I thought "no way, not today". But the more I thought about it and worked my way through all the frustration I realized how much I do love him. I can't live without him. He is a wonderful father, a great provider, a valuable friend.

I guess what I am trying to say it that no matter how MAD I get at him, I truly love him. I can't imagine how I would manage without him. He makes me proud to call him my husband.